Midway through trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 3.01% to 26,637 while the NASDAQ fell 3.09% to 11,078.18. The S&P also fell, dropping 2.93% to 3,291.23.

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 8,779,990 cases with around 226,730 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 7,990,320 confirmed cases and 120,010 deaths, while Brazil reported over 5,439,640 COVID-19 cases with 157,940 deaths. In total, there were at least 44,067,580 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with over 1,168,690 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Utilities shares slipped by just 2% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Edison International (NYSE:EIX), up 0.3%, and RGC Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGCO), up 0.1%.

In trading on Wednesday, information technology shares tumbled 3.8%.

Top Headline

General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) reported better-than-expected results for its third quarter.

General Electric reported quarterly earnings of $0.06 per share, beating analysts’ estimates for a loss of $0.04 per share. The company posted sales of $19.40 billion, surpassing expectations of $18.72 billion.

Equities Trading UP

Applied UV, Inc. (NASDAQ:AUVI) shares shot up 26% to $8.05 as the company reported an exclusive license and joint development agreement with Axis Lighting, Inc to commercialize LED-based technologies in UV-C devices to inactivate pathogens on surfaces in hospital market.

Shares of Community Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CYH) got a boost, shooting 24% to $5.42 after the company reported strong Q3 results.

Tupperware Brands Corporation (NYSE:TUP) shares were also up, gaining 36% to $29.10 after the company reported upbeat Q3 results.

Equities Trading DOWN

Akerna Corp. (NASDAQ:KERN) shares tumbled 18% to $2.39 as the company priced its 5 million share common stock offering at $2.40 per share.

Shares of Callaway Golf Company (NYSE:ELY) were down 22% to $15.03 after the company reported a deal to buy Topgolf in an all-stock deal, valued at $2 billion.

Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation (NASDAQ:BGFV) was down, falling 21% to $6.44 after the company reported Q3 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 6.2% to $37.12, while gold traded down 1.9% to $1,875.30.

Silver traded down 5.6% Wednesday to $23.20 while copper fell 1.3% to $3.0535.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 3.32%, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 3.06%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 3.95%. Meanwhile, the German DAX 30 declined 4.43%, French CAC 40 fell 3.97% and London’s FTSE 100 fell 3.29%.

Spain's retail sales dropped 3.3% year-over-year in September, while French consumer confidence declined to 94 in October from 95 in September.

Economics

The goods gap in the US shrank to $79.37 billion in September versus $83.1 billion in August.

Wholesale inventories dropped 0.1% in September.

U.S. crude inventories increased 4.3 million barrels for the week ended October 23, the EIA reported. However, analysts expected a gain of 200,000 barrels.

The Treasury is set to auction 5-year notes at 1:00 p.m. ET.